Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to vehicular technologies and, more particularly, to a system, method and apparatus for preventing damage caused at an output terminal of an on-board-charger (OBC) mounted in a vehicle.
Discussion of the Related Art
Typically, an on-board-charger (OBC) is mounted in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs). The OBC refers to an apparatus for receiving electric energy (e.g., AC voltage) from electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and charging a high-voltage battery via an in-cable control box (ICCB).
The OBC performs charging after connecting the output terminal thereof to the high-voltage battery of the vehicle. When the OBC does not perform charging, the high voltage of the OBC is cut off using a relay, for user safety.
When the OBC and the high-voltage battery are connected in order to perform charging, surge voltage and current may be generated by a parasitic inductor component on a high-voltage path and the capacitor of the output terminal of the OBC due to a voltage difference across a relay. Thus, hardware damage may be caused in the output terminal of the OBC.
A conventional method for solving the above-described problem involves decreasing a voltage difference between the output voltage of the OBC and the voltage of the high-voltage battery using a pre-charge resistor. However, charging may be restricted when the capacitor of the input terminal of another high-voltage part is not discharged. Accordingly, there is a need for a method of decreasing surge voltage and current by controlling the voltage of the output terminal of the OBC without the pre-charge resistor.